The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-10-01
A New Enterprise Suggested.


The following letter which we have been
allowed to publish, fully explains itself:
ST. LOUIS, Sept. %. 1897.
s. Whited, Esq:
Dear Sir-I have just returned from a
trip to Fort Scott, Kansas.
I went there for the purpose of looking
into the matter of making sugar from sor
ghun cane. On my arrival there saw the
agent who showed me through the entire
establishment and explained the process to
me. 1t is very simple and I am sure that
it is a wonderful success. They have sue
ceeded in extracting sufficient liquid from
the cane to mako one hundred pounds of
sugar and twelve gallons of syrup to the
ton. In Kansas they raise from ton to fif-
teen tons to the acre. Yon will soc from,
this that the sugar crop can be made ex
ceedingly profitable in Kansas, even if SUI
gar alone were produced, but in addition to
that they get enough seed tor feeding pur-
poses to he equal to twenty bushels of corn
to tho acre.
Now what I want to got at is this: wish
to suggest to you and through you to 9TH
ers tho question, wllet her We can establish
II factory at Monroe and make sugar from
he sorghum raised in North Louisiana. OF
course you know all about sorghum, and
you know that we can make better and
more sugar in Louisiana from it, than in
Kansas.
l understand from You that the sorghum
cane in Louisiana is richer and better and
will produce more sacharine matter than
that in any northern latitude. If you can
produce, say from ten to fifteen tons per
acre, You can make more money out of this
than from anything else. If you can do
this and in addition have enough seed to
| feed the animals, while making tho sor-
ghum and cotton crop, think you will see
| that tho value OF our lands will be largely
enhanced by the Introduce ion of this in
| dustry.
l have spoken with the gentlemen in
charge of the establishment Mt Fort Scott
| and know what is required tohayc establish
ed at Monroe a factory able to crush about
two hundred tons of cane per day, and am
prepared with others to take one half of
the stock required to erect tho mill at
Monroe. This mill will cost Ono Hun
dren and Fifty Thousand N5o, 5000 Dollars
and if ono half of the stock is taken by the
pln mt ers and others about Monroe, we can
have it erected within two years. and have
as fine a factory as there is in tho entire
country. In addition to taking one half
nish enough sorgham cane, for which they
can get with the leaves on it, two dollras
per ton, to keep tho factory in work
throughout the crushing season. You can
easily soc what this is il you take into con-
sitIeration the time employed in crushing
sugar say about five months in your re-
gion. Ihave been considering everything
that would be of any advantage to our re-
| zion and have seen nothing that would
prove so profitable as this.
really believe the sorghum industry will
far surpass the ribbon cane industry and
am supported in this view, by what have
seen and learned from others III reference
TO the production of sugar at Fort Scott
With this factory and if we can raise boil
cotton and sugar in our region, the future
of North Louisiana can be easily preaicte.
: You know that am coming to Monroe
this fall while am there wish the agri
cultura! socioty Y would mect and will la,
before it my plans.
1t seems To me that ;he planters ant
y merchants would willingly take stock Il
the enterprise, both good enterpris
and rs an initial stop towards redeemin
their lives from the inevitable mis- FORUM
= which visits the farmer who is limited to
y single understandable crop.
IL Please let me hear from you.
Very truly, l. e. TEBRT.